Animal Farm is an allegorical and dystopian novel by George Orwell, published in England on

17 August 1945. According to Orwell, the book reflects events leading up to the Russian
Revolution of 1917 and then on into the Stalin era in the Soviet Union.[1] Orwell, a democratic
socialist,[2] was a critic ofJoseph Stalin and hostile to Moscow-directed Stalinism, an attitude that
was critically shaped by his experiences during the Spanish Civil War.[3] TheSoviet Union, he
believed, had become a brutal dictatorship, built upon a cult of personality and enforced by a
reign of terror. In a letter to Yvonne Davet, Orwell described Animal Farm as a satirical tale
against Stalin ("un conte satirique contre Staline"),[4] and in his essay "Why I Write" (1946), he
wrote thatAnimal Farm was the first book in which he had tried, with full consciousness of what
he was doing, "to fuse political purpose and artistic purpose into one whole".
The original title was Animal Farm: A Fairy Story, though the subtitle was dropped by U.S.
publishers for its 1946 publication and subsequently all but one of the translations during
Orwell's lifetime omitted it. Other variations in the title include: A Satire and A Contemporary
Satire.[4] Orwell suggested the titleUnion des rpubliques socialistes animales for the French
translation, which abbreviates to URSA, the Latin for "bear", a symbol of Russia, and which
recalled the French name of the Soviet Union, Union des rpubliques socialistes sovitiques.[4]
Orwell wrote the book from November 1943 to February 1944, when the wartime alliance with
the Soviet Union was at its height and Stalin was regarded highly by the British people and
intelligentsia, a circumstance that Orwell hated.[5] It was initially rejected by a number of British
and American publishers,[6] including one of Orwell's own, Victor Gollancz. Its publication was
thus delayed, though it became a great commercial success when it did finally appear partly
because the Cold War so quickly followed World War II.[7]
Time magazine chose the book as one of the 100 best English-language novels (1923 to 2005);
[8]

it also featured at number 31 on the Modern Library List of Best 20th-Century Novels. It won a

Retrospective Hugo Award in 1996, and is also included in the Great Books of the Western
World selection.

Characters
Pigs

Old Major An aged prize Middle White boar provides the inspiration that fuels the
Rebellion in the book. He is an allegorical combination of Karl Marx, one of the creators of
communism, andLenin, the communist leader of the Russian Revolution and the early
Soviet nation, in that he draws up the principles of the revolution. His skull being put on
revered public display recalls Lenin, whose embalmed body was put on display.[10][11]

Napoleon "A large, rather fierce-looking Berkshire boar, the only Berkshire on the
farm, not much of a talker, but with a reputation for getting his own way". [12] An allegory

of Joseph Stalin,[10]Napoleon is the main villain of Animal Farm. In the first French version
of Animal Farm, Napoleon is called Csar, the French form of Caesar,[4] although another
translation has him asNapolon.[13]

Snowball Napoleon's rival and original head of the farm after Jones' overthrow. He is
mainly based on Leon Trotsky,[10] but also combines elements from Lenin.[11]

Squealer A small, white, fat porker who serves as Napoleon's right-trotter pig and
minister of propaganda, holding a position similar to that of Molotov.[10]

Minimus A poetic pig who writes the second and third national anthems of Animal
Farm after the singing of "Beasts of England" is banned.

The Piglets Hinted to be the children of Napoleon and are the first generation of
animals subjugated to his idea of animal inequality.

The young pigs Four pigs who complain about Napoleon's takeover of the farm but
are quickly silenced and later executed.

Pinkeye A minor pig who is mentioned only once; he is the pig that tastes Napoleon's
food to make sure it is not poisoned, in response to rumours about an assassination attempt
on Napoleon.

Humans

Mr Jones The former owner of the farm, Jones is a very heavy drinker. The animals
revolt against him after he drinks so much that he does not feed or take care of them. He is
an allegory of Russian Tsar Nicholas II,[14] who abdicated following the February
Revolution of 1917 and was executed, along with the rest of his family, by the Bolsheviks on
17 July 1918.

Mr Frederick The tough owner of Pinchfield, a small but well-kept neighbouring farm,
who briefly enters into an alliance with Napoleon. He is an allegory of Adolf Hitler,[15][16][17]
[18]

who enters into a neutrality pact with Joseph Stalin's USSR only to later break it

by invading the Soviet Union.

Mr Pilkington The easy-going but crafty and well-to-do owner of Foxwood, a large
neighbouring farm overgrown with weeds.

Mr Whymper A man hired by Napoleon to act as the liaison between Animal Farm and
human society. At first he is used to acquire goods needed for the farm, such as dog
biscuits and paraffin, but later he procures luxuries like alcohol for the pigs.

Horses and donkeys

Boxer A loyal, kind, dedicated, hard working, and respectable cart-horse, although
quite naive and gullible. Boxer does a large share of the physical labor on the farm,
adhering to the simplistic belief that working harder will solve all the animal's problems. He

has been described as "faithful and strong";[19] he believes any problem can be solved if he
works harder.[20]

Mollie A self-centered, self-indulgent and vain young white mare who quickly leaves
for another farm after the revolution. She is only once mentioned again, in a manner similar
to those who left Russia after the fall of the Tsar.

Clover - A gentle, caring female horse, who shows concern especially for Boxer, who
often pushes himself too hard. She seems to catch on to the sly tricks and schemes set up
by Napoleon and Squealer.

Benjamin A donkey, one of the oldest, wisest animals on the farm, and one of the few
who can read properly. He is skeptical, temperamental and pessimistic: his most frequent
remark is, "Life will go on as it has always gone onthat is, badly."[21] The academic Morris
Dickstein has suggested there is "a touch of Orwell himself in this creature's timeless
skepticism"[22] and indeed, friends called Orwell "Donkey George", "after his grumbling
donkey Benjamin, in Animal Farm."[23]

Other animals

Muriel A wise old goat who is friends with all of the animals on the farm. She, like
Benjamin and Snowball, is one of the few animals on the farm who can read.

The Puppies Offspring of Jessie and Bluebell, taken away from them by Napoleon at
birth and reared by Napoleon to be his security force.

Moses The raven "was Mr. Jones's especial pet, was a spy and a tale-bearer, but he
was also a clever talker." Initially following Mrs. Jones into exile, he reappears several years
later and resumes his role of talking but not working. He regales Animal Farm's denizens
with tales of a wondrous place beyond the clouds called "Sugarcandy Mountain, that happy
country where we poor animals shall rest forever from our labours!" Orwell
portrays established religion as "the black raven of priestcraftpromising pie in the sky
when you die, and faithfully serving whoever happens to be in power." Napoleon brings the
raven back (Ch. IX) as Stalin brought back the Russian Orthodox Church.[22]

The Sheep They show limited understanding of the Animalism and the political
atmosphere of the farm, yet nonetheless they blindly support Napoleon's ideals with vocal
jingles during his speeches and meetings with Snowball.

The Hens The hens are among the first to rebel against Napoleon.

The Cows Their milk is stolen by the pigs, who learn to milk them. The milk is stirred
into the pigs' mash every day, while the other animals are denied such luxuries.

The Cat Never seen to carry out any work, the cat is absent for long periods, and is
forgiven because her excuses are so convincing and she "purred so affectionately that it
was impossible not to believe in her good intentions".[24] She has no interest in the politics of

the farm, and the only time she is recorded as having participated in an election, she is
found to have actually "voted on both sides".[24]

Napoleon
From the very beginning of the novella, Napoleon emerges as an utterly corrupt opportunist. Though
always present at the early meetings of the new state, Napoleon never makes a single contribution
to the revolutionnot to the formulation of its ideology, not to the bloody struggle that it necessitates,
not to the new societys initial attempts to establish itself. He never shows interest in the strength of
Animal Farm itself, only in the strength of his power over it. Thus, the only project he undertakes with
enthusiasm is the training of a litter of puppies. He doesnt educate them for their own good or for
the good of all, however, but rather for his own good: they become his own private army or secret
police, a violent means by which he imposes his will on others.
Although he is most directly modeled on the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, Napoleon represents, in a
more general sense, the political tyrants that have emerged throughout human history and with
particular frequency during the twentieth century. His namesake is not any communist leader but the
early-eighteenth-century French general Napoleon, who betrayed the democratic principles on which
he rode to power, arguably becoming as great a despot as the aristocrats whom he supplanted. It is
a testament to Orwells acute political intelligence and to the universality of his fable that Napoleon
can easily stand for any of the great dictators and political schemers in world history, even those who
arose after Animal Farm was written. In the behavior of Napoleon and his henchmen, one can detect
the lying and bullying tactics of totalitarian leaders such as Josip Tito, Mao Tse-tung, Pol Pot,
Augusto Pinochet, and Slobodan Milosevic treated in sharply critical terms.

Snowball
Orwells stint in a Trotskyist battalion in the Spanish Civil Warduring which he first began plans for
a critique of totalitarian communisminfluenced his relatively positive portrayal of Snowball. As a
parallel for Leon Trotsky, Snowball emerges as a fervent ideologue who throws himself heart and
soul into the attempt to spread Animalism worldwide and to improve Animal Farms infrastructure.
His idealism, however, leads to his downfall. Relying only on the force of his own logic and rhetorical
skill to gain his influence, he proves no match for Napoleons show of brute force.
Although Orwell depicts Snowball in a relatively appealing light, he refrains from idealizing his
character, making sure to endow him with certain moral flaws. For example, Snowball basically
accepts the superiority of the pigs over the rest of the animals. Moreover, his fervent, single-minded
enthusiasm for grand projects such as the windmill might have erupted into full-blown megalomaniac
despotism had he not been chased from Animal Farm. Indeed, Orwell suggests that we cannot
eliminate government corruption by electing principled individuals to roles of power; he reminds us
throughout the novella that it is power itself that corrupts.

Boxer
The most sympathetically drawn character in the novel, Boxer epitomizes all of the best qualities of
the exploited working classes: dedication, loyalty, and a huge capacity for labor. He also, however,
suffers from what Orwell saw as the working classs major weaknesses: a nave trust in the good
intentions of the intelligentsia and an inability to recognize even the most blatant forms of political
corruption. Exploited by the pigs as much or more than he had been by Mr. Jones, Boxer represents
all of the invisible labor that undergirds the political drama being carried out by the elites. Boxers
pitiful death at a glue factory dramatically illustrates the extent of the pigs betrayal. It may also,
however, speak to the specific significance of Boxer himself: before being carted off, he serves as
the force that holds Animal Farm together.

Squealer
Throughout his career, Orwell explored how politicians manipulate language in an age of mass
media. In Animal Farm, the silver-tongued pig Squealer abuses language to justify Napoleons
actions and policies to the proletariat by whatever means seem necessary. By radically simplifying
languageas when he teaches the sheep to bleat Four legs good, two legs better!he limits the
terms of debate. By complicating language unnecessarily, he confuses and intimidates the
uneducated, as when he explains that pigs, who are the brainworkers of the farm, consume milk
and apples not for pleasure, but for the good of their comrades. In this latter strategy, he also
employs jargon (tactics, tactics) as well as a baffling vocabulary of false and impenetrable
statistics, engendering in the other animals both self-doubt and a sense of hopelessness about ever
accessing the truth without the pigs mediation. Squealers lack of conscience and unwavering
loyalty to his leader, alongside his rhetorical skills, make him the perfect propagandist for any
tyranny. Squealers name also fits him well: squealing, of course, refers to a pigs typical form of
vocalization, and Squealers speech defines him. At the same time, to squeal also means to betray,
aptly evoking Squealers behavior with regard to his fellow animals.

Old Major
As a democratic socialist, Orwell had a great deal of respect for Karl Marx, the German political
economist, and even for Vladimir Ilych Lenin, the Russian revolutionary leader. His critique of Animal
Farm has little to do with the Marxist ideology underlying the Rebellion but rather with the perversion
of that ideology by later leaders. Major, who represents both Marx and Lenin, serves as the source
of the ideals that the animals continue to uphold even after their pig leaders have betrayed them.
Though his portrayal of Old Major is largely positive, Orwell does include a few small ironies that
allow the reader to question the venerable pigs motives. For instance, in the midst of his long litany
of complaints about how the animals have been treated by human beings, Old Major is forced to
concede that his own life has been long, full, and free from the terrors he has vividly sketched for his
rapt audience. He seems to have claimed a false brotherhood with the other animals in order to
garner their support for his vision.

Themes
Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.

The Corruption of Socialist Ideals in the Soviet Union

Animal Farm is most famous in the West as a stinging critique of the history and rhetoric of the
Russian Revolution. Retelling the story of the emergence and development of Soviet communism in
the form of an animal fable, Animal Farmallegorizes the rise to power of the dictator Joseph Stalin. In
the novella, the overthrow of the human oppressor Mr. Jones by a democratic coalition of animals
quickly gives way to the consolidation of power among the pigs. Much like the Soviet intelligentsia,
the pigs establish themselves as the ruling class in the new society.
The struggle for preeminence between Leon Trotsky and Stalin emerges in the rivalry between the
pigs Snowball and Napoleon. In both the historical and fictional cases, the idealistic but politically
less powerful figure (Trotsky and Snowball) is expelled from the revolutionary state by the malicious
and violent usurper of power (Stalin and Napoleon). The purges and show trials with which Stalin
eliminated his enemies and solidified his political base find expression in Animal Farm as the false
confessions and executions of animals whom Napoleon distrusts following the collapse of the
windmill. Stalins tyrannical rule and eventual abandonment of the founding principles of the Russian
Revolution are represented by the pigs turn to violent government and the adoption of human traits
and behaviors, the trappings of their original oppressors.
Although Orwell believed strongly in socialist ideals, he felt that the Soviet Union realized these
ideals in a terribly perverse form. His novella creates its most powerful ironies in the moments in
which Orwell depicts the corruption of Animalist ideals by those in power. For Animal Farm serves
not so much to condemn tyranny or despotism as to indict the horrifying hypocrisy of tyrannies that
base themselves on, and owe their initial power to, ideologies of liberation and equality. The gradual
disintegration and perversion of the Seven Commandments illustrates this hypocrisy with vivid force,
as do Squealers elaborate philosophical justifications for the pigs blatantly unprincipled actions.
Thus, the novella critiques the violence of the Stalinist regime against the human beings it ruled, and
also points to Soviet communisms violence against human logic, language, and ideals.

The Societal Tendency Toward Class Stratification

Animal Farm offers commentary on the development of class tyranny and the human tendency to
maintain and reestablish class structures even in societies that allegedly stand for total equality. The
novella illustrates how classes that are initially unified in the face of a common enemy, as the
animals are against the humans, may become internally divided when that enemy is eliminated. The
expulsion of Mr. Jones creates a power vacuum, and it is only so long before the next oppressor
assumes totalitarian control. The natural division between intellectual and physical labor quickly
comes to express itself as a new set of class divisions, with the brainworkers (as the pigs claim to
be) using their superior intelligence to manipulate society to their own benefit. Orwell never clarifies

in Animal Farm whether this negative state of affairs constitutes an inherent aspect of society or
merely an outcome contingent on the integrity of a societys intelligentsia. In either case, the novella
points to the force of this tendency toward class stratification in many communities and the threat
that it poses to democracy and freedom.

The Danger of a Nave Working Class

One of the novellas most impressive accomplishments is its portrayal not just of the figures in power
but also of the oppressed people themselves. Animal Farm is not told from the perspective of any
particular character, though occasionally it does slip into Clovers consciousness. Rather, the story is
told from the perspective of the common animals as a whole. Gullible, loyal, and hardworking, these
animals give Orwell a chance to sketch how situations of oppression arise not only from the motives
and tactics of the oppressors but also from the navet of the oppressed, who are not necessarily in
a position to be better educated or informed. When presented with a dilemma, Boxer prefers not to
puzzle out the implications of various possible actions but instead to repeat to himself, Napoleon is
always right. Animal Farm demonstrates how the inability or unwillingness to question authority
condemns the working class to suffer the full extent of the ruling classs oppression.

The Abuse of Language as Instrumental to the Abuse of Power

One of Orwells central concerns, both in Animal Farm and in 1984, is the way in which language
can be manipulated as an instrument of control. In Animal Farm,the pigs gradually twist and distort a
rhetoric of socialist revolution to justify their behavior and to keep the other animals in the dark. The
animals heartily embrace Majors visionary ideal of socialism, but after Major dies, the pigs gradually
twist the meaning of his words. As a result, the other animals seem unable to oppose the pigs
without also opposing the ideals of the Rebellion. By the end of the novella, after Squealers
repeated reconfigurations of the Seven Commandments in order to decriminalize the pigs
treacheries, the main principle of the farm can be openly stated as all animals are equal, but some
animals are more equal than others. This outrageous abuse of the word equal and of the ideal of
equality in general typifies the pigs method, which becomes increasingly audacious as the novel
progresses. Orwells sophisticated exposure of this abuse of language remains one of the most
compelling and enduring features of Animal Farm,worthy of close study even after we have decoded
its allegorical characters and events.

Motifs
Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices that can help to develop and inform
the texts major themes.

Songs
Animal Farm is filled with songs, poems, and slogans, including Majors stirring Beasts of
England, Minimuss ode to Napoleon, the sheeps chants, and Minimuss revised
anthem, Animal Farm, Animal Farm. All of these songs serve as propaganda, one of the
major conduits of social control. By making the working-class animals speak the same
words at the same time, the pigs evoke an atmosphere of grandeur and nobility
associated with the recited texts subject matter. The songs also erode the animals sense
of individuality and keep them focused on the tasks by which they will purportedly achieve
freedom.

State Ritual
As Animal Farm shifts gears from its early revolutionary fervor to a phase of consolidation of power
in the hands of the few, national rituals become an ever more common part of the farms social life.
Military awards, large parades, and new songs all proliferate as the state attempts to reinforce the
loyalty of the animals. The increasing frequency of the rituals bespeaks the extent to which the
working class in the novella becomes ever more reliant on the ruling class to define their group
identity and values.

Symbols
Symbols are objects, characters, figures, and colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.

Animal Farm
Animal Farm, known at the beginning and the end of the novel as the Manor Farm, symbolizes
Russia and the Soviet Union under Communist Party rule. But more generally, Animal Farm stands
for any human society, be it capitalist, socialist, fascist, or communist. It possesses the internal
structure of a nation, with a government (the pigs), a police force or army (the dogs), a working class
(the other animals), and state holidays and rituals. Its location amid a number of hostile neighboring
farms supports its symbolism as a political entity with diplomatic concerns.

The Barn
The barn at Animal Farm, on whose outside walls the pigs paint the Seven Commandments and,
later, their revisions, represents the collective memory of a modern nation. The many scenes in
which the ruling-class pigs alter the principles of Animalism and in which the working-class animals
puzzle over but accept these changes represent the way an institution in power can revise a
communitys concept of history to bolster its control. If the working class believes history to lie on the

side of their oppressors, they are less likely to question oppressive practices. Moreover, the
oppressors, by revising their nations conception of its origins and development, gain control of the
nations very identity, and the oppressed soon come to depend upon the authorities for their
communal sense of self.

The Windmill
The great windmill symbolizes the pigs manipulation of the other animals for their own gain. Despite
the immediacy of the need for food and warmth, the pigs exploit Boxer and the other common
animals by making them undertake backbreaking labor to build the windmill, which will ultimately
earn the pigs more money and thus increase their power. The pigs declaration that Snowball is
responsible for the windmills first collapse constitutes psychological manipulation, as it prevents the
common animals from doubting the pigs abilities and unites them against a supposed enemy. The
ultimate conversion of the windmill to commercial use is one more sign of the pigs betrayal of their
fellow animals. From an allegorical point of view, the windmill represents the enormous
modernization projects undertaken in Soviet Russia after the Russian Revolution.

Chapter 1

No argument must lead you astray. Never listen when they tell you that Man and the animals have a common
interest, that the prosperity of the one is the prosperity of the others. It is all lies.

Now, comrades, what is the nature of this life of ours? Let us face it: our lives are miserable,
laborious, and short. We are born, we are given just so much food as will keep the breath in our
bodies, and those of us who are capable of it are forced to work to the last atom of our strength;
and the very instant that our usefulness has come to an end we are slaughtered with hideous
cruelty. No animal in England knows the meaning of happiness or leisure after he is a year old.
No animal in England is free. The life of an animal is misery and slavery: that is the plain truth.

Why then do we continue in this miserable condition? Because nearly the whole of the
produce of our labour is stolen from us by human beings. There, comrades, is the answer to all
our problems. It is summed up in a single word--Man. Man is the only real enemy we have.
Remove Man from the scene, and the root cause of hunger and overwork is abolished for
ever.

Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does
not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet
he is lord of all the animals. He sets them to work, he gives back to them the bare minimum that
will prevent them from starving, and the rest he keeps for himself. Our labour tills the soil, our
dung fertilises it, and yet there is not one of us that owns more than his bare skin.

Is it not crystal clear, then, comrades, that all the evils of this life of ours spring from the
tyranny of human beings? Only get rid of Man, and the produce of our labour would be our own.
Almost overnight we could become rich and free. What then must we do? Why, work night and
day, body and soul, for the overthrow of the human race! That is my message to you, comrades:
Rebellion!

Remember, comrades, your resolution must never falter. No argument must lead you
astray. Never listen when they tell you that Man and the animals have a common interest,
that the prosperity of the one is the prosperity of the others. It is all lies. Man serves the
interests of no creature except himself. And among us animals let there be perfect unity, perfect
comradeship in the struggle. All men are enemies. All animals are comrades.

The vote was taken at once, and it was agreed by an overwhelming majority that rats were
comrades. There were only four dissentients, the three dogs and the cat, who was
afterwards discovered to have voted on both sides.

All the habits of Man are evil. And, above all, no animal must ever tyrannise over his own
kind. Weak or strong, clever or simple, we are all brothers. No animal must ever kill any
other animal. All animals are equal.

Chapter 2

"Comrade," said Snowball, "those ribbons that you are so devoted to are the badge of
slavery. Can you not understand that liberty is worth more than ribbons?"

The Seven Commandments:

1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
3. No animal shall wear clothes.
4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.
5. No animal shall drink alcohol.
6. No animal shall kill any other animal.
7. All animals are equal.

Chapter 3

Donkeys live a long time. None of you has ever seen a dead donkey.

The importance of keeping the pigs in good health was all too obvious. So it was agreed without further argument
that the milk and the windfall apples (and also the main crop of apples when they ripened) should be reserved for the
pigs alone.

Nobody stole, nobody grumbled over his rations, the quarreling and biting and jealousy
which had been normal features of life in the old days had almost disappeared.

Old Benjamin, the donkey, seemed quite unchanged since the Rebellion. He did his work in
the same slow obstinate way as he had done it in Jones's time, never shirking and never
volunteering for extra work either. About the Rebellion and its results he would express no
opinion. When asked whether he was not happier now that Jones was gone, he would say
only "Donkeys live a long time. None of you has ever seen a dead donkey," and the others
had to be content with this cryptic answer.

Four legs good, two legs bad.

The early apples were now ripening, and the grass of the orchard was littered with
windfalls. The animals had assumed as a matter of course that these would be shared out
equally; one day, however, the order went forth that all the windfalls were to be collected and
brought to the harness-room for the use of the pigs. At this some of the other animals
murmured, but it was no use. All the pigs were in full agreement on this point, even
Snowball and Napoleon. Squealer was sent to make the necessary explanations to the others.
"Comrades!" he cried. "You do not imagine, I hope, that we pigs are doing this in a spirit of
selfishness and privilege? Many of us actually dislike milk and apples. I dislike them myself. Our
sole object in taking these things is to preserve our health. Milk and apples (this has been
proved by Science, comrades) contain substances absolutely necessary to the well-being of a
pig. We pigs are brainworkers. The whole management and organisation of this farm
depend on us. Day and night we are watching over your welfare. It is for YOUR sake that
we drink that milk and eat those apples. Do you know what would happen if we pigs failed in
our duty? Jones would come back! Yes, Jones would come back! Surely, comrades," cried
Squealer almost pleadingly, skipping from side to side and whisking his tail, "surely there is no
one among you who wants to see Jones come back?"
Now if there was one thing that the animals were completely certain of, it was that they did not
want Jones back. When it was put to them in this light, they had no more to say. The
importance of keeping the pigs in good health was all too obvious. So it was agreed
without further argument that the milk and the windfall apples (and also the main crop of
apples when they ripened) should be reserved for the pigs alone.

Chapter 4

"No sentimentality, comrade!" cried Snowball from whose wounds the blood was still
dripping. "War is war. The only good human being is a dead one."

Chapter 5

Until now the animals had been about equally divided in their sympathies, but in a moment
Snowballs eloquence had carried them away.

Do not imagine, comrades, that leadership is a pleasure. On the contrary, it is a deep and
heavy responsibility. No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are
equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But
sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?

Squealer

Chapter 6

All that year the animals worked like slaves. But they were happy in their work; they grudged
no effort or sacrifice, well aware that everything that they did was for the benefit of themselves
and those of their kind who would come after them, and not for a pack of idle, thieving human
beings.

Once again the animals were conscious of a vague uneasiness. Never to have any dealings
with human beings, never to engage in trade, never to make use of money had not these
been among the earliest resolutions passed at the first triumphant Meeting when Jones was
expelled? All the animals remembered passing such resolutions: or at least they thought that
they remembered it.

Afterwards Squealer made a round of the farm and set the animals' minds at rest. He
assured them that the resolution against engaging in trade and using money had never been
passed, or even suggested. It was pure imagination, probably traceable in the beginning to lies
circulated by Snowball. A few animals still felt faintly doubtful, but Squealer asked them
shrewdly, "Are you certain that this is not something that you have dreamed, comrades? Have
you any record of such a resolution? Is it written down anywhere?" And since it was certainly
true that nothing of the kind existed in writing, the animals were satisfied that they had been
mistaken.

Comrades, do you know who is responsible for this? Do you know the enemy who has come
in the night and overthrown our windmill? SNOWBALL!

Napoleon

Chapter 7

Whenever anything went wrong it became usual to attribute it to Snowball. If a window was
broken or a drain was blocked up, someone was certain to say that Snowball had come in the
night and done it, and when the key of the store-shed was lost, the whole farm was convinced
that Snowball had thrown it down the well. Curiously enough, they went on believing this even
after the mislaid key was found under a sack of meal.

"Ah, that is different!" said Boxer. "If Comrade Napoleon says it, it must be right."

And so the tale of confessions and executions went on, until there was a pile of corpses lying
before Napoleon's feet and the air was heavy with the smell of blood, which had been unknown
there since the expulsion of Jones.
When it was all over, the remaining animals, except for the pigs and dogs, crept away in a body.
They were shaken and miserable. They did not know which was more shocking--the treachery of
the animals who had leagued themselves with Snowball, or the cruel retribution they had just
witnessed. In the old days there had often been scenes of bloodshed equally terrible, but it
seemed to all of them that it was far worse now that it was happening among themselves. Since
Jones had left the farm, until today, no animal had killed another animal.

As Clover looked down the hillside her eyes filled with tears. If she could have spoken her
thoughts, it would have been to say that this was not what they had aimed at when they had set
themselves years ago to work for the overthrow of the human race. These scenes of terror and
slaughter were not what they had looked forward to on that night when old Major first stirred
them to rebellion. If she herself had had any picture of the future, it had been of a society of
animals set free from hunger and the whip, all equal, each working according to his capacity, the
strong protecting the weak, as she had protected the lost brood of ducklings with her foreleg on
the night of Major's speech. Instead--she did not know why--they had come to a time when no
one dared speak his mind, when fierce, growling dogs roamed everywhere, and when you had
to watch your comrades torn to pieces after confessing to shocking crimes. There was no
thought of rebellion or disobedience in her mind. She knew that, even as things were, they were
far better off than they had been in the days of Jones, and that before all else it was needful to
prevent the return of the human beings. Whatever happened she would remain faithful, work
hard, carry out the orders that were given to her, and accept the leadership of Napoleon. But
still, it was not for this that she and all the other animals had hoped and toiled.

Animal Farm, Animal Farm,

Never through me shalt thou come to harm!

Chapter 8

Somehow it seemed as though the farm had grown richer without making the animals themselves any richer
except, of course, for the pigs and the dogs.

A few days later, when the terror caused by the executions had died down, some of the
animals remembered--or thought they remembered--that the Sixth Commandment decreed "No
animal shall kill any other animal." And though no one cared to mention it in the hearing of the
pigs or the dogs, it was felt that the killings which had taken place did not square with this.
Clover asked Benjamin to read her the Sixth Commandment, and when Benjamin, as usual, said
that he refused to meddle in such matters, she fetched Muriel. Muriel read the Commandment
for her. It ran: "No animal shall kill any other animal WITHOUT CAUSE." Somehow or other, the
last two words had slipped out of the animals' memory. But they saw now that the
Commandment had not been violated; for clearly there was good reason for killing the traitors
who had leagued themselves with Snowball.

Napoleon was now never spoken of simply as "Napoleon." He was always referred to in
formal style as "our Leader, Comrade Napoleon," and this pigs liked to invent for him such titles
as Father of All Animals, Terror of Mankind, Protector of the Sheep-fold, Ducklings' Friend, and
the like. In his speeches, Squealer would talk with the tears rolling down his cheeks of
Napoleon's wisdom the goodness of his heart, and the deep love he bore to all animals
everywhere, even and especially the unhappy animals who still lived in ignorance and slavery on
other farms. It had become usual to give Napoleon the credit for every successful achievement
and every stroke of good fortune.

At the foot of the end wall of the big barn, where the Seven Commandments were written,
there lay a ladder broken in two pieces. Squealer, temporarily stunned, was sprawling beside it,
and near at hand there lay a lantern, a paint-brush, and an overturned pot of white paint. The
dogs immediately made a ring round Squealer, and escorted him back to the farmhouse as soon
as he was able to walk. None of the animals could form any idea as to what this meant, except
old Benjamin, who nodded his muzzle with a knowing air, and seemed to understand, but would
say nothing.

But a few days later Muriel, reading over the Seven Commandments to herself, noticed that
there was yet another of them which the animals had remembered wrong. They had thought the
Fifth Commandment was "No animal shall drink alcohol," but there were two words that they had
forgotten. Actually the Commandment read: "No animal shall drink alcohol TO EXCESS."

Chapter 9

For the time being, certainly, it had been found necessary to make a readjustment of rations
(Squealer always spoke of it as a "readjustment," never as a "reduction"), but in comparison with
the days of Jones, the improvement was enormous. Reading out the figures in a shrill, rapid

voice, he proved to them in detail that they had more oats, more hay, more turnips than they had
had in Jones's day, that they worked shorter hours, that their drinking water was of better quality,
that they lived longer, that a larger proportion of their young ones survived infancy, and that they
had more straw in their stalls and suffered less from fleas. The animals believed every word of it.
Truth to tell, Jones and all he stood for had almost faded out of their memories. They knew that
life nowadays was harsh and bare, that they were often hungry and often cold, and that they
were usually working when they were not asleep. But doubtless it had been worse in the old
days. They were glad to believe so. Besides, in those days they had been slaves and now they
were free, and that made all the difference, as Squealer did not fail to point out.

Chapter 10

Somehow it seemed as though the farm had grown richer without making the animals
themselves any richer except, of course, for the pigs and the dogs.

Four legs good, two legs better!

ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL

BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS.

The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man
again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.